Obama: We Will Work With International Community To "Deliver A Strong Message" To North Korea
A reporter asked President Obama what his message was to North Korea, after today's missile launch. His response, from the White House's transcript: "We delivered it today. They, I think, have taken a provocative action. It creates instability in their region, around the world. If they want to take an appropriate path to rejoin the international community and break out of their isolation, that's available to them. That's not the path they're taking right now. And we intend to work with the international community to deliver a strong message."

Obama: Global Coordination Needed For Global Crisis
In this weekend's YouTube Address, President Obama discussed the work of the G-20 leaders to fix the global economy:

"Ultimately, the only way out of a recession that is global in scope is with a response that is global in coordination," said Obama. "That is why I'm pleased that after two days of careful negotiation, the G20 nations have agreed on a series of unprecedented steps that I believe will be a turning point in our pursuit of a global economic recovery."

RNC Video: Obama Inherited A Fiscal Crisis, Is Making It Worse
In this weekend's RNC YouTube, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) gives the GOP's rebuttal on the budget -- and concedes the White House's point that the problems it is facing are inherited, rather than of its own making:

"There is no doubt that President Obama inherited a fiscal crisis," said Ryan. "But the question is, is he fixing it or is he making it worse? The President's budget, which passed the House and Senate this week, will make the crisis much, much worse."

A few moments ago we posted that the state's totals in NY-20 showed Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican Jim Tedisco were exactly tied, at 77,225 votes each. But no longer -- in the latest numbers from one county, Scott Murphy has picked up a net 198 votes.

The Albany Project first reported that Murphy had picked up the votes in Washington County, and I have now confirmed it with Donna English, the Republican election commissioner in the county. (Counties in New York have both Dem and GOP election commissioners, working together.)

The Schenectady Daily Gazettereports that the numbers right now, as the counties go through the standard procedure of proofreading their spreadsheets, are 77,225 votes for Democrat Scott Murphy, to 77,225 votes for Republican Jim Tedisco.

Murphy led by 65 votes on election night, then 25 votes Wednesday afternoon, and Tedisco might have taken a small lead yesterday. The numbers are still in flux, as some counties are still checking everything out -- who knows, these numbers could even be out of date right now, minutes after it was reported.

I spent some time on the phone earlier today with aides to Mike Johann and Ben Nelson and it turns out there's very little ambiguity: Johann's motion would have resulted in a budget that all-but-froze non-defense discretionary spending, and two high profile Democrats supported it.

Here's another fun new dimension to Norm Coleman's legal adventures -- and it's not directly related to the election contest.

During an interview with MinnPost.com yesterday, Norm was asked whether he'd spoken with the FBI about the Nasser Kazeminy case, which involves allegations that a donor paid a large amount of money to a consulting firm where Coleman's wife worked, with the aim of funneling the money to Norm himself.

And here's what happened:

"I can't say anything," he said. "We want this matter to be fully reviewed and fully investigated because nothing happened and we are looking forward to that taking place."
And on that note, we arrived at Coleman's car and he ended the conversation by turning and putting his hands on my shoulders.

Bachmann has now picked up some new cosponsors in her efforts to amend the Constitution to forbid the use of a foreign/global money as the legal tender of the United States: Trent Franks (R-AZ), Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), and Kenny Marchant (R-TX). She now has a total of 34 cosponsors, in addition to herself as the primary sponsor.

Of course, there is no such threat to replace the dollar as America's currency. Even if a global currency of some kind were adopted -- and even that isn't in any way a sure thing -- it would be for international exchanges and reserves, not for domestic use.

Norm Coleman and the GOP are continuing to lay the groundwork to keep this drawn-out legal process going even longer, as the election court is to rule some time fairly soon that Al Franken is the winner of the race.

Norm appeared on Fox News today:

Norm reminded viewers that there will not be a certificate of election right after the court rules, as it will have to be appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court: "Listen, it's taken a long time, but this is not judicial fast food."

The state of Alaska is providing with one of those great entertaining moments from a mostly one-party state: When members of the same party, in this case the Republicans, start openly ripping each other apart.

Congressman Don Young has broken from the calls by Sarah Palin and the Alaska Republican Party, who say that Democratic Sen. Mark Begich should resign because he was only elected through the botched prosecution against Sen. Ted Stevens. After Stevens was convicted of several felony counts, Begich went on to narrowly win the election -- but now the Justice Department has dropped all the charges in light of prosecutorial misconduct. Young doesn't like the result, but it is what it is.

Young is going a bit further, however, and making a suggestion for another way that Ted Stevens could make a political comeback: Running for governor in 2010. This would presumably involve Stevens running against Sarah Palin, a giant of her state's politics. Now why would Young suggest such a thing?